Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett

Storyline: What would you do if a bunch of trolls want to steal your dog? Fight them back? Let them have it? Run away? See what Treva did. This book teaches us how to fight for what we love.

In early spring, Treva, a girl with golden braids, decides to pay a visit to a cousin who lives on the other side of the Mount Baldy. It will take a hard climb at the top, but a fast fly down to the bottom. With her skis on her back and her dog, Tuffi, at her hills, she sets up the mountain. By the time she reaches the last of the old trees, her trouble with trolls begin.

It all started when she noticed her dog disappearance. Soon she sees that a troll has it. But she wasn’t going to let the troll get away with the dog. Being smart and thinking fast, she tricks the troll into trading her mittens for Tuffi. Happy, with the dog at her side, she continues her climbing. But trouble follow her.

Every time she gets rid of one troll, another one is waiting around the corner, or among the trees, or behind the rocks, grabbing Tuffi and running with it. They want the dog more than anything else. Each time, Treva tricks them into giving her back the dog in exchange for an item she wears.

By the time she reaches the top of Mount Baldy she had traded her mittens, hat, sweater, and boots. Wearing only her jumpsuit and socks, she is shivering. All she has left is a pair of skis that she needs them to go down the mountain. In front of her, there are five trolls holding Tuffi.

What would she do?

Swooshing the skis on the air, she tells the trolls she could fly on them. Greedy, they want to see it. Treva agrees to show them but she needs her mittens, her hat, her sweater and her boots. One by one, the trolls give those items back to her. Now, the only thing she need is Tuffy, and a big push down the slope. But the trolls cannot push because they are clutching the dog. She offers to hold it while they push. And they agree! With a big shove from the five trolls, Treva takes off down the mountain, with Tuffi in her arms, while the trolls finally realize that they have been tricked once more.

And that’s how her trouble with trolls ends. She never sees them again. All that’s left to remind her of this big adventure is a bunch of cotton grass waving in the wind.

Characters: A girl named Treva, brave and clever, with long blond braided hair, Tuffi, a brown husky dog, five trolls with pointy years and furry tails.

Illustration: Jan Brett is the illustrator of this book. As a matter of fact, she illustrated all her books. With a unique style, she creates a magical world in which the myth blends into reality to enhance it and often transform it. Hence, we learn the deeper meaning hiding behind the story itself.

The landscape is of a winter, with big trees, snow, and mountain tops. The colors she uses are often related to Christmas symbolism in the western world: red, white and green are predominant. The pages are trimmed with a band of vivid illustration, portraying the everyday life of trolls. Overall, it is a great visual experience.